Ingrid Brett Movies

This 99-minute film constitutes the first half of Robert Siodmak's mammoth two-part epic Der Kampf um Rom (Fight for Rome). The film depicts the Goths' sacking of Rome in 526 AD. No expense was spared in bringing this story to the screen: for example, Siodmak utilized six companies of Rumanian cavalry for the battle sequence, and the epic packs in an all-star cast including Laurence Harvey as Celhegus, Orson Welles as Justinian and Sylva Koscina as Theodora. The film carefully lays a groundwork of corruption and infighting, suggesting that the siege of Rome was virtually justified. Screenwriter Ladislas Fodor (a former government agent best known for his espionage yarns) adapted his script from the best-selling novel by Felix Dahn. The second half, Der Kampf um rom 2: Der Verrat (which also clocks in at just over 1.5 hours) was issued in 1969, a year after the first; Four years after that (c. 1973), the two parts of Der Kampf um Rom were edited together, cut down to 94 minutes, and distributed as a single entry in the United States.
~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Two brothers looking to avoid becoming pawns of the establishment come up with a better way of making a living -- through theft -- in this satiric comedy. David Tremayne (Oliver Reed) is a successful London architect, and his younger brother Michael (Michael Crawford) is weighing his options after being kicked out of school. The brothers share a bemused disgust with the world around them and a desire to get through life without the burden of labor; toward this end, one day they begin plotting an elaborate scheme to steal the British Crown Jewels. Mind you, they don't intend to sell them, or even keep them very long -- the idea is to return them after a week, simply to prove that it could indeed be done, and make themselves famous in the process. After studying the procedures of Scotland Yard's Bomb Disposal Unit, the inner working of the Tower of London's Jewel Room, and the London ambulance services, the Tremaynes come up with a foolproof plan -- they call in a bomb threat to the Tower, and they are able to enter the Jewel Room posing as men from the bomb squad. They then feign injury and are able to escape in an ambulance. It all seems simple enough, and it actually works, until Michael "forgets" his part of the agreement to take half of the responsibility for the theft. The supporting cast includes Edward Fox, Frank Finlay, and Harry Andrews. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi